Bengaluru, July 21 (Representative) FCI (Bengaluru) has decided to offload wheat and rice to private buyers under the Open Market Sale scheme OMSS (Domestic) via e-auction every Wednesday to keep the retail price under check. This measure comes in the wake of the Karnataka government alleging that the central government has decided to stop the supply of additional rice by the FCI to implement Anna Bhagya scheme, one of the five guarantees of the ruling Congress party in the state. However, FCI General Manager Bhupendra Singh Bhati remained tight-lipped about the measure being linked to the politics surrounding the Anna Bhagya scheme. He said this measure is applicable for all the states to check the spurt in retail price of rice in the OMSSD. Bhati said the reserve price of wheat has been fixed at Rs 2,150 per quintal for Fair and Average Quality (FAQ) and Rs 2,125 per quintal for Under Relaxed Specifications (URS) variety, for pan-India up to December 31. Bhati said the reserve price of rice has been fixed at Rs 3,100 per quintal and Rs 73 per quintal shall be added to the reserve price for Fortified Rice for private parties pan-India up to October 31.
He said during the e-auction conducted on June 28, July 5 and July 12 a quantity of 13470MT, 13600 MT and 14570 MT of wheat was offered, and a quantity of 3260MT, 3930MT and 5830MT were sold, respectively. On June 28, the range of rates for FAQ wheat were between Rs 2,150 to Rs 2,180. On July 5 and 12, the range of FAQ wheat was Rs 2,150, he said. As on July 1, the stock position in respect of rice in Karnataka is 6.49 LMT and in respect of wheat it is 0.63 LMT, Bhati said. The all India Stock position of rice is 253.49 LMT and wheat is 301.45 LMT, he said. Bhati said Karnataka produced 9.93 LMT of ragi and 1.22 LMT of jowar during KMS 2021-22 and procured 4.04 LMT of ragi and 1.03 LMT of jowar. In KMS 2022-23 11.54 LMT of ragi and 1.76 LMT of jowar was produced and 4.544 LMT of ragi and 0.76 LMT of jowar was procured, he said. Bhati said instead Karnataka has moved ragi to deficit states. In respect of Andhra Pradesh, a quantity of 22,707MT has been moved till 17th July 2023. A quantity of 991MT was moved to Kerala and a quantity of 2639 MT has been moved to Tamil Nadu, he said. Bhati said the all-India allocation of foodgrains under the National Food Security Act for the FY 2022-23 was 362.53 LMT, and Karnataka was allocated 2.17 LMT.
Upto June 2023, the all-India allocation is 371.53 LMT and Karnataka was allocated 2.17 LMT per month, he said. There is no damaged food grains stocks accrued in Karnataka region in the past one year, Bhati said. For the last one year a quantity of 1.69 LMTs of Fortified Rice has been issued from the depots under the divisional offices of FCI, Karnataka under various welfare schemes, he said. For the last one year, a quantity of 22, 24,404 MTs of non-fortified rice has been issued under various government schemes and also for ethanol production, Bhati said. For the year 2022-23, a total of 43.85 LMT of foodgrains has been moved into the state, he said. During 2023-24, a total of 6.03 LMT of foodgrains has been moved into the state till June 2023, Bhati said. A total of 0.05 LMT of foodgrain stocks were moved to UT Lakshadweep islands from Mangalore port by ocean vessels for the PDS beneficiaries during the FY 2022-23, he said.